20.9.13

While working on my bathroom and changing everything out for bright, crisp white finishes, I couldn't help but notice this sad little bisque colored toilet tucked in the corner.

There was nothing wrong with the toilet, except for it's dingy color. Which in fact, made it all wrong. I was stewing about it because I really didn't want to replace it. But I really did. My poor brain. (and husband)

It just so happened that my friend Tom had rescued a boatload of toilets from a warehouse that had burned down. Nothing was wrong with their functionality or porcelain finishes, but they had some soot and grime on them. Pshhht. This girl is not afraid of a little bit of dirt. So, {Melanie} and I found our way over to the toilet hoard to see what we could hunt up.

I really wanted a one-piece toilet because of the ease of cleaning and the overall aesthetic. There was ONE toilet that fit the bill, and it was love at first sight. Sleek, one piece design, compact and stunning.

It didn't have a seat with it, so I went and sat in my car (out of the 110 degree sun) and googled the toilet to see if I could order the seat. And look what my eyes beheld....

Do you SEE that price? $1,564.95. That's when I nonchalantly asked Tom how much he wanted for the (brand new) filthy orphan toilet with no seat.

$65.

You guys, I didn't even try to talk him down! And I sort of felt like a thief as we drove away with that beautiful mess.

Since Melanie is a legitimate contractor, she ordered a seat right up for me, paid for it, picked it up and delivered it, complete with a bow and thoughtful card as a gift to me and my family. She's so amazing and I feel like the luckiest girl in America to have her living three doors down.

After I got the toilet all cleaned up, Melanie came over for the big install. Of course we thought we would get-er-done in an hour's time......until we realized we were missing a $10 part. And it was a special order.

What a shocker.

It's fine. The kids haven't had a bathroom for over a year now, what was another week and a half?

Meanwhile, I went to Goodwill. A practice that always clears my head. I was looking for a canvas that I could paint something on to hang behind the toilet.

BAM!

The perfect size and shape, with no raised texture. Since it's basically the first thing my kids will see each and every morning, I really wanted it to be something that would stay with them all day.

I considered the same cross-stitch phrase that hung behind my Grandma's toilet:

"If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat."

But it was too long. :)

After really searching, I found the perfect quote and instantly knew it was the one.

I wanted it to look like subway art, so I taped off the frame of my newly acquired ($10) treasure, and painted the canvas with chalkboard paint. I suppose I could have used any black paint, but I had the chalkboard paint on hand, so that's what made sense.

After I spray painted the frame in a satin nickel and painted a 1/2" white border around the perimeter of the canvas, I decided how I wanted the quote to look. After printing it, I got busy tracing it onto the canvas with some white transfer paper.

Then came the fun part of painting it with a steady hand, small brush, and some white paint.

We (meaning Melanie) finally got the toilet in. I was an excellent assistant. I was in awe that she knew how to do every single part of it. When she started drilling through the tile and into the concrete foundation, that's when I knew plumbing might be out of my league.

I was excited to hang my subway art up over the most anticipated toilet of the year. NEVER has a potty been more appreciated!

One more time, just for fun.

I love it! I wish I could show it to you from several different angles, but it's a really tight space. The lid closes softly and you flush it by pushing a button on the top of the tank. It's probably the nicest thing in our house.

And now my friends, we've made it to the home stretch. A new vanity, mirror and lighting is all this bathroom is lacking! It should be done in another year. I kid. Hopefully.

I love that Melanie is drilling the holes into the foundation BAREFOOT! You two will have your houses made into palaces of perfection in no time, I am sure of it! I LOVE the subway art, so clean and classic... just like the potty. It really is a sleek thing of beauty and is yet another elegant detail that is going to make this bathroom absolutely fabulous! (Would a jar of Cheerios on a shelf over the toilet be too much? You know, drop one in for target practice to encourage good aim?) Probably, but I thought I'd ask. Bravo. XOXOG

Actually, yes. The closest thing I've come to really diy on a house other than painting and removing awful stuck down commercial carpet which was stuck to brick colored tile was to install laminate wood flooring in a kitchen complete with a lot of "inee"/"outee" cuts in the quarter round to finish the edge and tiling the back splash on point cutting the border and all the angle cuts myself. My husband is not so thrilled with doing it himself, so we tend to not do the major stuff. My dream? Renovating an entire house. His dream? Living in a house that it is all done. Sigh!

Oh, my! Such karma - first, a magnificent toilet and then the perfect canvas! I love that you can take something as awful as that Goodwill picture and turn it into a clean, clever piece of inspiration.

I thought for a moment you were gonna lose me at "subway art" as I ABHOR that trend and want to poke my eyes out if I ever see another montage of streets, cities, seasonal phrases, ex boyfriends...but THIS? Is the bomb. My husband always smiles after he's taken a big...uh...I mean - done his business. So it's totally appropriate for over a toilet. Is what I'm saying.

I so want a toilet like that. Not even for aesthetics! I just want it for my messy peeing boys who manage to pee down the side of the toilet. It gets into all those like twists and turns and is such a pain to clean!